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Photograph of Buddy Carter

Buddy Carter

U.S. House · GA-1 · Republicans · since 2025

also

Candidate for U.S. House · GA-1

Target Earl

Biography

Overview

Buddy Carter is a Republican U.S. Representative from Georgia's 1st congressional district, serving since 2015. The Savannah-based district covers much of Georgia's coastal southern region. Carter earned a pharmacy degree from the University of Georgia and previously served as mayor of Pooler (1996–2004) and in the Georgia state legislature (2005–2014). In 2025, he announced he would not seek re-election to the House, instead running for the Republican nomination for Senate.

Career

Carter has sponsored numerous bills focused on healthcare access and reform, including rural healthcare staffing, telehealth modernization, and pharmaceutical pricing measures. He supports Affordable Care Act repeal and favors state-level abortion decision-making following the Dobbs decision. Carter opposes sanctuary city policies and has championed efforts to expand immigrant detention in Georgia. He supports gun rights (with an "A" NRA rating) and opposes cannabis decriminalization. Carter voted against certifying 2020 election results in Georgia despite court and agency findings of no fraud.

Prior political experience

Carter was first elected to Congress in 2014 after Jack Kingston retired to run for Senate. In the Republican primary, he finished first with 36% of the vote but fell short of the 51% threshold needed to avoid a runoff. He defeated Bob Johnson in the runoff with 53% of the vote. In the general election, he defeated Democrat Brian Reese with 60.9% of the vote. In 2016, he ran unopposed in both primary and general elections, receiving over 99% against write-in candidates. He was reelected in 2018, 2020, and 2022. Carter announced in May 2025 he would not seek re-election to the House in 2026, instead pursuing the Republican Senate nomination.

Biographical material adapted from the Wikipedia article (retrieved April 29, 2026), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Ideology

Liberal–Conservative (DW-NOMINATE dim 1)

Liberal
Conservative
119th Congress+0.559

Secondary axis (DW-NOMINATE dim 2)(?)

−1
+1
+0.343
Source: Voteview DW-NOMINATE · 327 scored votes

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Officeholding history

TermSeatTerm datesTerminationPredecessorSuccessor
6thU.S. House GA-12025–presentIn progressBuddy Carter—
5thU.S. House GA-12023–2025Term endedBuddy CarterBuddy Carter
4thU.S. House GA-12021–2023Term endedBuddy CarterBuddy Carter
3rdU.S. House GA-12019–2021Term endedBuddy CarterBuddy Carter
2ndU.S. House GA-12017–2019Term endedBuddy CarterBuddy Carter
1stU.S. House GA-12015–2017Term ended—Buddy Carter

Committee assignments

Current term legislation

Bills sponsored this term10

Bills cosponsored this term10

Elections

YearSeatResultVote shareField
——Pending——